How volunteering for the designathon got me hooked on UX

Short brief about designathon
48 hours ⏳ 15 teams 👯 and one designathon
All participants were given a problem statement of a product consisting of a flow, which they will be redesigning and working on the business metrics to make the flow of the product better.

What does volunteering mean.? 🧑‍🤝‍🧑
When we think of volunteering, we think of getting together and working together to achieve common goals. This can be said, but what we did for the designathon was unique in many ways.

Volunteers made the workbooks, notion docs, and Figjam files ready for the designathon participants. We followed the design thinking process linearly/ non-linearly. Made sure that what we are doing will help students to understand the process.

Let’s get right to the voluntary work I did for this designathon. I’ve broken down my experience into three sections.

• Before designathon
• During designathon
• After designathon

Before designation 📅

Anudeep initiated an all-volunteer call, and nearly 100 volunteers responded. He began the presentation by describing the roles of each team. It was incredible how the teams were formed based on their skills and Anudeep’s understanding. I was fascinated by the role that each team would play. So, as Audeep was explaining, I jotted down the briefs for each team.

We were asked to join our respective discord groups once all groups were announced, and our journey to the “designathon” began. We all were excited about how and what would happen and were looking forward to Anudeep’s guidance.

I was a member of the program management team, which had a total of eight members. Working professionals and graduate students were among those present. We got to know each other after joining our team’s discord group voice channel. I always try to make people feel at ease so that they can contribute freely. When I joined the team’s VC, I made sure everyone was at ease and initiated the conversation, all while having fun. All of the members began to respond and discuss.

Our roles and responsibilities 📌

I started creating a notion tracker to track the status of designathon volunteer teams until we get more input from Anudeep. Creating a tracker was extremely beneficial in moving us from ambiguity to clarity. We learned about other factors that can assist volunteer teams. We finished the tracker with the help of my team and were waiting for Anudeep’s advice.

It was 5 a.m. and we were waiting for Anudeep. We showed him the created notion tracker, he provided detailed input on each team’s responsibility, and he suggested we develop a plan of action to track the status. Understanding the team’s responsibilities clarified what they will be doing.

So we sat down for a few more hours and devised a strategy for tracking teams' progress. When and what must be submitted, and who will serve as the volunteer team’s point of contact? We created a tracker for our team to help us understand the progress of all teams. In our tracker, we recorded tasks that needed to be completed. We assigned each member of our team the task of contacting those groups. We update the notion tracker status so that our team members can analyze the situation.

Setting goals 📑

• The workbook team was asked to complete 1–2 workbooks in two days.
• Setting small goals made it easier for volunteers to work and think more clearly.
• We formed a notion team to transfer these workbooks to the notion doc. The notion doc team began working alongside the workbook team.
• Giving discord access to all the volunteers and following up with them guiding them about the channels created.
• For the problems statement team, we asked them to have 8–10 problems statement to keep ready for Anudeep to review and discuss
• We were tracking the number of participants for designation while also deciding on the number of problem statements to ensure that we had an adequate number of problem statements.
• The PPT team needed to submit PPTs before the live call and collect all the resources created
• The Figjam team needed to complete the Figjam file for participants to follow
• I created the groups for designathon participants, segregating them with their level of expertise and skills which they have

Although all tasks were planned, people felt stuck at times and were unsure of what needed to be done next. I joined their voice channel and helped them with different ideas that could make them think from different perspectives so that they could proceed and carry on with their task.

“Whenever you feel stuck talk to others and you might get interesting idea from them or you might end up with an idea”

For the designathon participants, we created the multitracker, which would allow them to track numerous stages simultaneously. The tracker’s goal was to keep track of all the tasks involved in the designathon, increase participants’ understanding of what remained to be done, and help them prioritize and concentrate on the remaining tasks.

• To create this tracker we did brainstorming on how can we track multiple stages of the designathon simultaneously (ideate stage of design thinking)
• How will it be easier for participants to understand and simultaneously track the progress of the different stages ( empathy stage of design thinking)
• Which tool can be used, we were also thinking of not to have introduced new tools to participants so that they don’t have to invest time in learning new tools.
• We decided to create a tracker on Figma as participants were aware of the tool
• We talked to the earlier designathon participant and got insights from them on how they keep track of project status and made changes
• We tested our multi-tracker with other students/volunteers (testing stage of design thinking)
• We made changes as per the feedback from students. (feedback and new iteration)
• A more detailed case study for multi-tracker will be out soon!!!

Changing plans according to the situation 🎯

There may be times when what you planned does not work as expected, which can cause results to be delayed. What matters is how you overcome that situation and move forward without hesitation and with confidence in yourself.

There were moments when the time was of the essence and we needed to complete those deliverables. Talking about possible solutions for completing tasks quickly with each team representative, determining whether each team has enough resources, and assisting them in finding new ones. Following up frequently, keeping tabs on the situation, inspiring individuals as needed, and requesting that they take breaks to maintain a fresh perspective.

Every plan of action is not a perfect plan, it is important to start and get working on things, simultaneously observing the output which can be best suitable for your targeted results

Working with my team was a rewarding experience; we had disagreements, but we connected and made fun of ourselves while arguing, and we stayed focused and worked together to achieve our goal. We had so many laughs throughout the process.

As we were getting close to the designathon date and our work was getting completed we all really felt good and joy of happiness that we all as a community came together and worked to make this designathon happen!!

Who doesn’t like last-minute rush 🏃🏼‍♂️

Even after the work of each team was completed, I had to coordinate everything for Anudeep’s live call and ensure that he had all the necessary resources with him. It was really push and rush situation for me as I was also going to participate in the designathon.

Key Takeaways from being a volunteer ✍

• Having a clear vision of what needs to be done and setting small goals helps speed up the process
• Never be afraid to fail in any situation
• Ask for help whenever required, speak about your problems
• Design thinking can be used at any stage of the process
• By showing visibility and availability you will get involved more and more learnings will be
• By showing a willingness to learn, others will also help you to learn
• You grow when you come together and learn together
• Showing gratitude and understanding other views create a strong bond

During designathon ⌛

As PM, I collaborated with Anudeep and the rest of the PM team who did not participate in the designathon during the designathon. What can be done to assist designathon participants in getting unstuck and moving forward? Despite the fact that my focus was on the designathon, I was able to assist briefly. Giving alumni access to the Discord channel in exchange for assisting designathon participants

After designathon 📢

After the designathon, our task was to have everyone who participated in the designathon write and publish their case studies. We sat down once more to discuss how we could make it easier for people to publish their case studies and internalize the knowledge they gained during the 48-hour designathon. Many more initiatives are in the works, and I am eager to work on them for my own learning as well as to assist the community in learning together!!

All my volunteering experience got me connected with so many people and as person I got to know so many personalities their strengths and more things for me to learn from them which will help me to upskill myself in each and every possible aspect. The more the availability I showed the more I got involved into things, more learnings which helped boost my confidence to believe in myself more and proceed.

All the exposure I got while working with different teams and learning from each person. Got me hooked on UX more than anything. An experience I haven’t had before; I’m glad I stood up for volunteering and collaborated. Did I know I’d be able to accomplish so much? No, I wasn’t even aware of what I was doing most of the time, but still kept going and always looked for feedback in ways and trusted the process.

Here is a picture of my team with our swag, the Pushpa move “will get things done” in our scenario 😎

PM Team

I would like to thank UXM Community and Anudeep Ayyagari for giving me such opportunities and more over trusting me with responsibilities, making me feel a sense of belonging to the community, and working towards constantly learning from the community!!!

Thank you for reading till the end !!!

Feedback would be appreciated.
Connect via LinkedIn :- Omkar Raut